The Hopkins County Echo (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 203, No. 47, Ed. 1 Friday, November 20, 1998 Page: 4 of 4
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4 — THE HOPKINS COUNTY ECHO, Sulphur Springs, Texas, Friday, November 20,1998
COMMUNITYNews
Reports From Our Area Correspondents
ARBALA
By Cathy Halliburton-Halter
Hello to you all from Arbala. I
hope this Wednesday finds you get-
ting ready for the annual Arbala
Thanksgiving Supper scheduled for
Thursday night, Nov. 19. The covered
dish supper will begin at 6 p.m. at the
Arbala Community Center. Come out
for a great night of neighborly fel-
lowship.
Raffle tickets are still available for
the Tabasco wall clock. Some lucky
person will have his or her name
drawn at the Thanksgiving supper for
the clock and Tabasco trivet. Contact
Clay Bartley at 485-2379 for more
information.
Don't forget about this week’s
Third Friday Night Dance at the
Community Center.
Belated birthday wishes go out to
three men in the community. Stan
Burkham and Gary Henderson shared
a birthday on Nov. I0. Mike Smith
celebrated a birthday on Nov. 15.
Happy birthday guys.
Kristie Burkham and Ginger Bart-
ley have the Arbala Kids Klub (or
Kids’ Night Outi up and going again.
The ladies are preparing for an
upcoming Christmas program with
the children. Wednesday nights are
still set aside to meet at the commu-
nity center but an added night each
week will be needed to practice for
the Christmas program. The kids will
meet each time at 6 p.m. If you have
any questions, give Kristie a call.
Remember to mark your calendars
for Thanksgiving Week for the
Gafford's Chapel Revival series.
Many people from Arbala will
remember the Rev. Henry Suche who
pastored at Arbala United Methodist
Church several years ago. The Rev.
Suche will preach on Monday, Nov.
23. The services will begin at 7:30
p.m. each night and the revival will
run from Sunday, Nov. 22, to
Wednesday, Nov. 25.
One other event to keep in mind is
the Parish Women’s Christmas Party
on Wednesday, Dec. 9, at the commu-
nity center sponsored by Arbala UMC
Women. Stay tuned for the time.
Ray and Melissa Fouse were
recently honored by their family with
a housewarming party at their new
home. Congratulations to you two.
In closing this week, 1 would like
to say that our thoughts and prayers
go out to the Phyllis Clayton family
of Arbala. Mrs. Clayton passed away
last week at her home. Mrs. Clayton
was the mother of two teenage daugh-
ters and the wife of Merrill Clayton.
The Claytons were relatively new to
our community and many of us never
had the chance to really get to know
her. Nevertheless, we were shocked
and deeply saddened by her death.
After finding out that Mrs. Clayton
would be taken to a small town in
Arkansas near the Missouri border for
the funeral service, members of the
community surrounded this family
with love and support as though they
had been here forever. Money was
raised to help defray the cost of trav-
eling and food was delivered to the
home along with items to make their
trip a little easier.
It wopld be impossible to name
every person who helped. You know
who you are. Special thanks to all
within the Arbala Community as well
as to our neighbors from South Liber-
ty Baptist Church. So many people
came to the aid of this family. May
God richly bless you all for your sup-
port and your spirit of giving.
The Claytons will return to our
community for a brief stay following
the funeral. We should remember to
keep them in our thoughts and
prayers for some time to come. It
breaks my heart to know these two
daughters will grow up without their
mother.
See you next week. Hope to see
you at the Arbala Thanksgiving Sup-
pler on Nov. 19. After all, we do have
a lot to be thankful for. don't we?
REILLY SPRINGS
By Ann Minyard
Hi everyone. I feel better, the sun is
shining and I hope everyone is having
a great week. I am a great one to let
things slip up on me and I did just
that last week. I forgot to remember
our veteran’s on Veterans Day until I
received e-mail from Randy Hudson,
grandson of Juanita Hudson, who is
stationed in Bosnia. Randy sent me
this pioem, which I think is appropri-
ate for any day. I would like to share
it with you and say hats off to our ser-
vicemen in this troubling time for our
country, God be with them all.
It is the soldier, not the reporter
Who has given us freedom of press,
It is the soldier not the poet.
Who has given us freedom of speech,
It is the soldier not the campus
organizer,
Who has given us freedom to demon-
strate.
It is the soldier
Bigger- Higher. Farther
Raven Industries'
creating massive
balloon for
another assault
on aeronautic
milestone
By DENA GRAVES
News-Telegram Staff
It's one of the last great milestones
in aeronautics — (lying a balloon
nonstop around the world, an adven-
ture many balloonists have tried —
and failed — to conquer. And
although voyagers have been unsuc-
cessful. many still reach for that
dream.
Raven Industries’ balloon plant in
Sulphur Springs is building the bal-
loon envelope for an around the
world attempt for RE/MAX Interna-
tional Inc
"We are currently building the bal-
loon for Team RE/MAX's around
the world attempt,” said Raven
Industries' Senior Aerospace Engi-
neer Michael Smith. “We will have
it completed by the end of the
month.”
RE/MAX International Inc. fran-
chises and provides support services
to real estate brokerage offices
around the world. According to
reports from RE/MAX International,
three men will attempt the journey
around the world. The company has
been considering this expedition for
10 years, but has been unable to
attempt the adventure until now.
In the past. Raven Industries has
built balloons for around the world
attempts and has had many inquiries
from people wanting to purchase a
balloon.
“When Anheuser Busch
announced a prize of $1 million to
fly around the world, people called
us like crazy, but very few followed
through," said Smith. "There were a
lot of people who thought they could
make money. But really, to do it
right and build all of the life support
systems and everything (hat goes
along w ith that, there is no way you
could do it for less than 52 million.
'it's like racing in the Indy 500—-
you are spending $5 million to com-
pete for'a $200,000 firs! prize.”
Team RE/MAX's balloon, which
will be constructed in three to four
weeks, is being built b\ a six-mem-
ber crew at Raven's plant on
Thomas Road, completely by hand.
Smith said workers dispense
enough plastic film sheets for two
Lengthy work
Stall Photo By Brad Ottosen
Employees at Raven Industries smooth out and seal The Sulphur Springs company is building the balloon
together many layers of 650-foot-long sheets of mate- for an around the world attempt by RE/MAX Inter-
rial to create a gigantic balloon Thursday afternoon. national Inc.
“gores,” which are the individual
segments of the balloon, place the
film on a table that is marked with a
pattern and seal the two gores
together. Once the first seal is made,
the workers place another plastic
film sheet on top of the first two
gores, seal the plastic and so on.
“There are 172 seals on
RE/MAX's balloon,” he said. “And
the crew working on the balloon
ends up walking seven miles a day.”
The balloon utilizes the same
specifications as the National Aero-
nautic Space Administration's scien-
tific balloons, which fly in the
stratosphere, the outer edge of
Earth's atmosphere that starts some
12 miles above sea level.
Smith said the balloon envelope
carries a 6,000-pound pressurized
cylindrical gondola and will lift into
the stratosphere in four hours. The
balloon envelope will be filled with
170.000 cubic feet of helium for
launch, and expands to hold nearly
40 million cubic feet of the gas. The
fully expanded balloon could easily
contain the entire Houston
Astrodome.
“The balloon envelope itself will
cost well over $100,000, but
RE/MAX will spend millions for the
entire project,” Smith said. “The
biggest difference about this balloon
and other attempts is that other bal-
loons were designed to fly at 30,000
feet and ride the jet stream.
RE/MAX’s balloon is designed to
fly at 130.000 feet and fly the strato-
spheric winds.
“Also, the gondola that they are
going to fly in is a space craft.”
The gondola is made of aluminum
with welded seems, according to
RE/MAX’s reports. It has three
seats, a bunk, two hatches and sever-
al portholes.
The gondola is 8 feet in diameter,
8 feet tall, and at launch, the fully-
loaded, equipped and manned gon-
dola will weigh 6,000 pounds.
“It could sit on the moon and you
could live in it,” Smith said. “During
their flight, they will have the same
view of the horizon as the astronauts
get from the shuttle, because at
130,000 feet you are 99 percent
above the atmosphere.
“I think the chances of this type of
balloon and the capsule making it
completely around the world are
very good. The most difficult techni-
cal hurdle will be maintaining the
life support system for three men in
that small area.”
Team RE/MAX's mission goals
include being the first manned bal-
loon flight around the world; a new
manned ballooning altitude record,
estimated at 130,000 feet; perfor-
mance of numerous scientific stud-
ies; and an educational curriculum
on the Internet.
The journey around the world is
expected to take between 16 and 18
days.
The launch is planned to be in
December in Alice Springs. Aus-
tralia.
NETBIO sale called success
By BRUCE ALSOB ROOK
Chalk one up for ingenuity.
When the North East Texas Beef
Improvement Organization formed
in June to help area ranchers earn a
premium for their cattle through spe-
cial feeder calf and stocker sales,
they hoped to get 2.000 head for
their first sale.
More than a million pounds of
meat on the hoof — 2,127 head, to
be exact — rambled through Sul-
phur Springs Livestock Commission
Company Wednesday to help make
NETBIO’s initial offering a success.
“There were a lot of consigners
with big smiles when they picked
those checks up,” said Dwyatt Bell,
one of the organizers of the NET-
BIO project.
Steers brought as much as $95 per
hundred pounds at the sale. $5 more
than the highest price paid at the
most recent sale in Sulphur Springs
and $30 more than the lowest price.
The lowest price paid at Wednes-
day’s sale was $57.50 for a group of
holstein steers weighing more than
500 pounds, but that was still $5.50
more than the minimum paid for the
same class of cattle at the most
recent sale.
The sale brought in $858,241.80,
an average price of $403.50 per head
and more than $74 per hundred
pounds.
Most of the ranchers in the North-
east Texas region operate on a rela-
tively small scale, putting them at a
disadvantage when competing for
sales to big feed lots. The idea
behind NETBIO was to group local
ranchers’ cattle into larger lots to
attract those large-volume buyers
that would pay premium prices for
higher-quality cattle.
“There were a lot of buyers from
big operations from out of state,”
said Hopkins County Chamber of
Commerce President Bill Elliott,
another who helped organize the
sale.
“I know there were some heavy
hitters in the crowd,” Bell said.
‘They sure helped make the sale.
They bought cattle, too.”
Bell said the organization exceed-
ed the goal for premium prices
Wednesday.
“There’s no question about it,”
said Bell. “I talked to several of the
people in the audience that make
sales every day and know what dif-
ferent classes of cattle are worth, and
the general consensus was that there
was probably from 4 cents to 10
cents premium on each group of cat-
tle. That’s better than what our goal
was.”
The owners of Sulphur Springs
Livestock Commission Co., David
Fowler and Joe Don Pogue, also
helped organize NETBIO, and Bell
said they went above and beyond the
call of duty making the sale a suc-
cess.
“Those guys did an excellent job.
and they put in some long hard
hours sorting those cattle and getting
ready for that sale,” Bell said.
The organization has already
planned its next sale for March 10,
and even more participants are
expected to show up.
“We had a lot of people that came
just to see how they did,” Bell said.
“I talked to several people who came
to the first meeting we had on June
30, and they were there to see how
they did, even though they didn't
have cattle in this one. and several of
those told me they would be bring-
ing us cattle in the future.
“I hope we didn’t do too good,”
he added. “The first time out of the
box you want to do good, but we set
an awful high standard for the next
one to meet.”
Who salutes the flag,
Who serves beneath the flag,
And whose coffin is draped by the
flaft
Speaking of servicemen, Joshua
Alkire, son of David Alkire and
grandson of Bill and Wanda Alkire.
has just enlisted in the Navy. He will
be taking his basic training at the
Navy Training Center in Great Lakes,
Illinois, in the Nuclear Division. We
are proud of you Josh.
The community center held its
annual election on November 13.
Approximately 17 people attended.
The elected officers are Juanita Hud-
son, president, Mickey Ledbetter, vice
president, Ann Minyard, and secre-
tary-treasurer. Ns*v members of the
board of directors are as follows, 3-
vear term, Kathryn Westbrook; 2-year
term. Kerry Bailey; 1-year term, Phil
Newby.
Plans were made for a Community
Christmas Dinner to be held Saturday,
Dec. 12, at 6 p.m. The meat and dress-
ing will be furnished and everyone is
asked to bring a vegetable and
dessert. Please mark your calender
and plan to attend.
Kerr>' Bailey was appointed to head
a committee to plan for a Stew in Jan-
uary or February.
I have been asked to explain how
the decision came about to install
windows and do the existing work on
the center. As most everyone knows,
we received a very generous love gift
from Finis Attlesey. This gift was giv-
en in loving memory of his wife and
son, Onree and Johnny Mac Attlesey.
They had made the decision before
Onree’s death to present this gift to
the community center for restoration.
Six bids were presented to the board
of directors for painting the windows
and trim, and installing vinyl win-
dows and siding. The majority voted
to install vinyl windows and trim,
with the knowledge that the center
would have to purchase new front and
back doors. Installing doors required
lumber, new door handles, paint for
the doors and other miscellaneous
items. One board member wanted to
save the money for a new tin roof, but
this was tabled as our roof is only 4
years old and has a 20-year guarantee.
The gift was given to restore the
building, not to save.
Finis is very proud of our accom-
plishments with the center, and we are
so fortunate to have someone who
loves and takes such pride in our
community. To complete the restora-
tion of the building we need a beam
(and maybe more than one), bath-
room flooring repairs, floor covering,
storm screen doors, and a new din-
ning room stove. I hope this explains
how the work on the center was
planned. The center is to be used by
anyone in the community for any
community-wide function, free of
charge. A fee will be charged for any
private functions. We encourage
everyone in the community to take
part and enjoy the center. If anyone
has any questions, I will be glad to
answer them. Any board member can
also help.
Renee Motley and family will be
moving to Arlington soon. Renee is
the daughter of Kay and Danny
Strong.
Wendy Aljsire of Plano visited her
parents. Bill and Wanda Alkire, this
weekend.
Darlene Nichols is recovering from
foot surgery. She won’t be chasing
her adorable little girl Megan very
much. Meg is 1 1/2 years old and a
redhead. She keeps her mom on her
toes.
Vera Harrington was in Waxa-
hachie this weekend visiting her
daughter and family, Mary, Larry,
Elizabeth and Caroline Burns.
Brandon Baldridge’s drawing enti-
tled “Bowie Bears Believe In You”
was chosen to be the cover of the
Bowie School Directory. Brandon is
the son of Billy and Darla Baldridge.
Congratulations Brandon.
Wanda Alkire and Kay Strong vis-
ited their sister, Lou Ann Vanginault
Kuhn, at Tawakoni this weekend.
That is about all the news at Reilly
Springs this week. Fall is in the air,
the trees are turning, and it is a beau-
tiful sight. Time for pumpkins and
sweet potatoes and getting ready for
Thanksgiving and Christmas. This is
my favorite time of the year with all
the pretty colors. Take a drive to Reil-
ly, visit a friend, and enjoy the splen-
dor of nature. Until next week, smile,
you may make someone else feel bet-
ter.
TIRA
By Patsy Shaw
Homer and Glenda Hooten are
playing a waiting game. Homer is
scheduled for very serious surgery
sometime this week. He has been in
Zale-Lipshy Hospital in Dallas since
Oct. 23 and Glenda has been by his
side providing loving care. For those
of you who have not met this fine
couple, Glenda is a tiny person and is
on crutches. She has a fantastic atti-
tude and a delightful sense of humor.
Families waiting in the Intensive Care
Unit have adopted her. She jokes
about facing life in this big world.
Public restrooms have tall equipment
for the handicapped. Imagine her
turning on the water in a lavatory and
having to jump up to wash her hands.
She also said “After punching the ele-
vator button, getting into the elevator
before the door closes is a true chal-
lenge.” They covet your prayers.
Mozelle Davis is getting settled in
at Hopkins House. She will keep her
old phone number, 885-3675, so give
her a call sometime.
Helen Weir went to the doctor
Monday and got a good report. Late
yesterday afternoon she was working
in the yard, which is very good for
someone who suffered a broken hip
only a few weeks ago.
Maxine Patterson is doing much
better these days. It was good to have
her back in church the last two Sun-
days. Her sons Randy and Rick Pat-
terson and grandsons, Shane and
Jason, came Sunday afternoon to take
George and her out to eat.
Joe Kamey has returned happy
from his hunting trip to Fredericks-
burg. He has bagged the family’s win-
ter meat, a deer. I think Gwen was
pretty glad to see him come home.
Jan Vaughn reports that she, Chip,
Lucille Horn and Mary Nell Jennings
spend the weekend in Branson, Mo.
They went to see the Christmas Port
of Lights, the Rockets and the Andy
Williams shows. Jan said the drive
was great and the trees were simply
beautiful. On their return trip, the sun
was at the right angle to make the
scenery even more beautiful.
The annual Tira Christmas Party
will be held Saturday, Dec. 12, at 7
p.m. Mark your calendar now and
watch for more information.
Looking out my window, I see a
beautiful ash tree and the leaves look
as though they are on fire. Also out
my window, I see ground work being
done on RaDona, Brian and Blake
Adams' new house. Weather permit-
ting, they will soon have a new home
and be permanent Tira residents.
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Keys, Scott & Lamb, Bill. The Hopkins County Echo (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 203, No. 47, Ed. 1 Friday, November 20, 1998, newspaper, November 20, 1998; Sulphur Springs, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth779830/m1/4/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Hopkins County Genealogical Society.